Warren Buffett is widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world. He is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), which averaged an annual growth in book value of about 20% to its shareholders for the last 44 years. Berkshire Hathaway stock had a total return of 76% from 2000 to 2010, versus a negative 11.3% for S&P 500.
Bill Miller is chairman and chief investment officer of Legg Mason Capital Management (LM). The Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust's after-fee return beat the S&P 500 index for 15 consecutive years from 1991 through 2005, making Miller on top of the investment world 5 years ago.
Both Buffett and Miller are among the smartest investors in the world. Hedge funds devote significant resources to researching stocks and sometimes they manage to obtain material information before investing. We believe that by imitating their stock picks, investors are more likely to beat the market over the long term.
Warren Buffett’s and Bill Miller’s common stock picks managed to beat the S&P 500 index by double-digits this year. Here are the stocks both Buffett and Miller are bullish on:
CompanyName | Ticker | Bill Miller | Warren Buffett | YTD Return |
AMERICAN EXPRESS | 165208 | 7838273 | 7.57% | |
CONOCOPHILLIPS | 166364 | 2789070 | 0.98% | |
GENERAL ELECTRIC | 170730 | 146691 | -9.53% | |
JOHNSON & JOHNSON | 149803 | 2835387 | 6.97% | |
MASTERCARD INC | 33752 | 122043 | 45.70% | |
PROCTER & GAMBLE | 211194 | 4880018 | 3.15% | |
UNITED PARCEL SERVICE | 5660 | 104232 | -4.42% | |
WELLS FARGO & CO NEW | 190125 | 9886312 | -14.83% | |
WAL-MART STORES INC | 6844 | 2074433 | 3.77% | |
EXXON MOBIL CORP | 5800 | 34326 | 6.17% |
American Express Co (AXP): American Express is a global service company. The company’s principal products and services are charge and credit payment card products and travel-related services offered to consumers and businesses around the world. Miller had $165 million and Buffett had $7.84 billion invested in the stock. It has a market cap of $54.3B, a P/E ratio of 11.9, and returned 7.57% since the beginning of this year. Jean-Marie Eveillard and Ken Griffin were also main investors in AXP (check out Jean Eveillard’s top stock picks).
ConocoPhillips (COP): ConocoPhillips is an international, integrated energy company. Miller had $167 million and Buffett had $2+ billion invested in the stock. It has a market cap of $91.9B, a P/E ratio of 8.43, and returned 0.98% since the beginning of this year. Jean-Marie Eveillard also had $438 million invested in COP shares.
General Electric Co (GE): GE is a diversified technology and financial services corporation. Miller had $171 million and Buffett had $147 million invested in the stock. It has a market cap of $171B, a P/E ratio of 12.51, and lost 9.537% since the beginning of this year. Ken Fisher had nearly $600 million invested in GE (check out Ken Fisher’s top stock picks).
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): Johnson & Johnson is engaged in the research and development, manufacture and sale of a range of products in the health care field. Miller had $150 million and Buffett had $2.8 billion invested in the stock. It has a market cap of $177B, a P/E ratio of 15.41, and returned 6.97% since the beginning of this year. Ken Fisher and Ric Dillon were also main investors in JNJ.
MasterCard Inc (MA): MasterCard is a global payments company that provides a economic link among financial institutions, businesses, merchants, cardholders and governments. Miller had $33.8 million and Buffett had $122 million invested in the stock. It has a market cap of $41.4B, a P/E ratio of 20.2, and returned 45.70% since the beginning of this year. Jean-Marie Eveillard and Tom Russo both had over $200 million invested in MA.
Procter & Gamble Co (PG): P&G is a company focused on providing consumer packaged goods. Miller had $211 million and Buffett had $4.9 billion invested in the stock. It has a market cap of $178B, a P/E ratio of 16.49, and returned 3.15% since the beginning of this year. D. E. Shaw, Ken Fisher and Jim Simons also all had over $200 million invested in PG (see D. E. Shaw’s top stock picks).
United Parcel Service Inc (UPS): United Parcel Service is a package delivery company. Miller had $5.66 million and Buffett had $104 million invested in the stock. It has a market cap of $66.6B, a P/E ratio of 16.76, and lost 4.42% since the beginning of this year. Jason Capello had $253 million of UPS stocks/
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC): Wells Fargo is a diversified financial services company. Miller had $190 million and Buffett had $9.9 billion invested in the stock. It has a market cap of $138B, a P/E ratio of 10.13, and lost 14.83% since the beginning of this year. John Paulson also had nearly 1 billion invested in WFC (see John Paulson’s top stock picks).
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT): Walmart operates retail stores. Miller had $6.84 million and Buffett had $2.1 billion invested in the stock. It has a market cap of $189B, a P/E ratio of 12.4, and returned 3.77% since the beginning of this year. Ken Fisher and Boykin Curry both had over $300 million invested in WMT stocks.
Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM): Exxon Mobil is a manufacturer and marketer of commodity petrochemicals. Miller had $5.8 million and Buffett had $34.3 million invested in the stock. It has a market cap of $371B, a P/E ratio of 10.02, and returned 6.17% since the beginning of this year. Ken Fisher had $584 million invested in XOM.
Disclosure: I am long COP.
